


Of water and men

by jam82



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-26
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 02:44:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9947192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jam82/pseuds/jam82
Summary: The whole world seemed to conspire against him.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently the smell for Payneshaw is Creek and emotion. 
> 
> Apparently the random hero smell generator just exists to provide catateme9 with ways to inspire me.

"What are you doing?" He could practically hear the raised eyebrow in her voice as he tried to ignore her by pretending to really be into stretching his leg

"He's pretending that he likes jogging so he can go on doggy dates with his boytoy" came a disembodied voice from his living room. Unfortunately for Nick, he had forgotten about the very pregnant and very bored Aimee sitting on his sofa. He made a mental note to keep the door locked next time she came knocking, he didn't care that she was pregnant or oh, had a key to his house. Never mind, new plan, he'd have to steal her key and THEN never let her into his house again. Yeah, good plan. 

The glee on Daisy's face made him wish he had never dragged Aimee out of the house to get some fresh air. How was he supposed to know that they'd run into Liam or worse, that Liam had told her about how they'd bump into each other on their daily jogs. To be fair, Aimee had played along beautifully and hadn't laughed at the idea of Nick jogging. At least not while Lickable Liam, as she'd taken to calling him, was within earshot. He didn't even try to protest Aimee's words or the over the top description of hos handsome Liam was (he really was) or how embarrassing Nick had been (he may have blushed). Excusing himself he called for Pig and rushed out the door, ignoring Daisy's cackle and the two gossipping women.

Getting to the park was the easy part, making it appear as if he actually enjoyed jogging was something of a coreographed routine that he had down to an art:  
1\. Hide behind the bushes at the cross section of the paths  
2\. Let Pig run around him chasing the birds  
3\. Run on the spot until he started to sweat. Repeat as necessary.   
4\. Wait for the sound of someone (hopefully Liam but there had been the odd frightened runner in the past)  
5\. Run out from behind the bush pretending that he's been running the whole time  
6\. Charm the pants off Liam

Okay so he might not have mastered the whole getting Liam naked part yet, but he was pretty sure that Liam at least fancied him. After a couple of false starts, he finally gets it right and is rewarded with a crinkly eyed smile. Nick could write sonnets about that smile. Actually, he couldn't, he'd tried to describe it once, but he couldn't think of anything that didn't sound impossibly cheesy. Usually they'd stand around for a bit and talk or walk their dogs along the path while they chatted about whatever came to mind (Nick might have taken advantage of wearing sunglasses more than once and subtly checked out Liam's body) but apparently the whole universe was conspiring against him and Liam suggested they run around the lake letting the dogs stretch their legs. Nick had quickly found that he couldn't say no to Liam even though all the alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear. And that's how Nick found himself trying to keep up with Liam while pretending his lungs weren't trying to leap out with every breath. If he had paid more attention, maybe he would have noticed Pig's attention getting diverted. Maybe he'd even been clever enough to drop the leash before she took off in the hunt of a squirrel. As it turned out, he wasn't clever or fast enough and the sudden pull on the leash made him lose his footing and before he knew it, he wasn't trashing about spluttering and shouting about drowning. The fact that a very concerned Liam was standing next to him in water that barely reached his knees should have been a clue, but nothing could convince Nick that he hadn't been about to drown. He saw his life flash before his eyes and everything. Liam helped him out of the water while reassuring him that he wasn't going to die and that it was all just an accident. Nick wasn't too sure, not least because he was now standing dripping wet in front of Lickable Liam and he didn't think he had ever done anything more embarrassing. If you could die from embarrassment, Nick was soon to drop dead anytime soon. This man, this boy really, standing in front of him was really too sweet for his own good and Nick felt guilty for having lied to him let alone for keeping up the lie. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant that Liam would inevitably ask him to leave. "I have a confession to make" he might as well get it over with "I don't actually like jogging, I think today is the most exercise I've had since I was 10, I just pretended to be a runner so that we could keep bumping into each other because I think you're quite fit and lickable and I really wanted you to like me" he kept his eyes closed and waited for the yelling to start so he could make a quick exit and go home to lick his wounds, but all he felt was the warmth of Liam's hand cupping his cheek and he opened his eyes in confusion. Liam's face was impossibly close making it hard to concentrate on anything but his lips "I kind of had an idea with the heavy breathing and all and I think you're quite fit too". Before Nick had time to process the words, he felt Liam's lips on his prompting him back into action as he hungrily kissed Liam back. Maybe almost drowning wasn't so bad.


End file.
